Just the Beginning
by Eraserhead
Summary: What would happen when Tonks meets Charlie Weasley? Major fluff. COMPLETED


**Just the Beginning**

"9 … 10 … 11 … 13," muttered Charlie Weasley. He was tired from his trip and the fresh burn on his right arm felt like it was fire. The only reason why he was here was to placate his mother, Molly Weasley. For weeks all she talked about was how she could not remember what her second son looked like and how he was running away from his family to "play with dragons" and such. After the Percy fall out, Charlie thought he owed it to the family to at least make an appearance. 

He stood on the patch of dead grass where number 12 should have been and mumbled, "The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London." No sooner had he reached the part about number twelve, a battered door emerged of nowhere between house eleven and house thirteen. It seemed to inflate from thin air, pushing aside the two houses next to it. Charlie walked up to the grimy welcome mat. 

Before he could ring the bell, he heard a crash and loud cry. Suddenly the whole house seemed to vibrate with shouts. "_Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers, the noble and most ancient house of Black!"  In the background, he could hear a female voice, wailing apologetically. "I'm sorry, Molly! I didn't mean to-" _

"TONKS!" Charlie always recognized his mother's sweet voice. He chuckled. He wondered who the hell Tonks was. His mother usually reserved that tone of voice for the twins after one of their particularly elaborate pranks. 

Charlie rang the bell, though he doubted anyone could hear it. "I'll get it!" the female voice yelled. Charlie could hear approaching footsteps and a loud thud as something fell to the ground, hard. He could still hear, "_Blood traitor! Abomination! What shame has befallen the house of Black! Shame!"  _The shrill voice seemed to have endless energy. 

"Oh good Merlin, TONKS!" Molly said exasperatedly. "Ginny! Ginny! Dear, would you get the door?" The voice sounded like it was retreating deeper into the house. Charlie had been standing by the door for a good five minutes. 

Charlie tapped his foot impatiently as he heard rapid thumps, indicating running footsteps. He smiled as he came face to face with his favorite sister … well, his only sister. "Charlie!" she squealed. She immediately launched herself into his awaiting arms. "How are you? Tell me about the dragons? How's Romania? Hurry and get inside!" He chuckled as she dragged him inside and slammed the door. "Gross, you have new blisters!" she said. "Let me see!" He held out his hands for inspection. 

Charlie gaped as he watched the chaos surrounding him. Remus and Sirius were at the far end of the hall struggling with a set of ratty curtains. They were trying to get the curtains to close over a painting of an old woman with rolling eyes and yellowing skin. She seemed to be making the god-awful screeching he had heard from the front step. "That's the ever so present Mrs. Black," Ginny said with glee. The siblings watched at Sirius swore and shouted insults at the life size portrait of his mother. Remus seemed to struggle with his end of the curtain. 

In front of him was a young witch with bubble-gum pink hair. She was picking herself off the floor and trying to straighten an upended stool. She tripped on her own robes and sent the stool skittering to the other side of the room. Molly Weasley was rushing down the stairs and yelling at the twins, Fred and George, who had identical looks of regret on their faces. Meanwhile, Mundungus Fletcher was sitting silently at the table, whittling a piece of wood. His bulging pockets must have been heavy because he was leaning to his left because of the weight.

Molly finally spotted her son at the same time Sirius and Remus had managed to wrench the curtains shut. "Charlie!" she yelled as she came running forward. She embraced her son and started to rain kisses all over his face. Charlie could feel himself flushing a violent shade of red. His face clashed hideously with his hair. "Mom!" he said finally. "Please," he muttered. 

Ginny went over to Tonks to help her up and then placed the stool at the side of the table where it belonged. "I'm fine," Tonks mumbled. She felt her face flame with embarrassment. Meeting the newest Weasley and she was on the floor. She quickly brushed off her robes and looked up only to meet a pair of dark eyes. She felt herself blush all over again. He had seen her newest struggle with furniture. She seemed to have waged a never-ending war with umbrella stands as well as stools, tables, food, and plates. 

Charlie smirked at the young witch turned a rosy shade of pink after meeting his eyes. He looked over to see Ginny arch one eyebrow in speculation. Molly suddenly dragged Charlie over to Tonks. "Charlie, dear, this is Nymphadora Tonks," she said. 

Nymphadora? "Nice to meet you, Nymphadora," Charlie said. He stuck out his hand in greeting. She scowled. "Just Tonks," she said, "Don't ever call me Nymphadora." She visibly shuddered. 

The house seemed to rattle as footsteps thundered down the steps. Fred and George, who had snuck away from Molly's ranting the minute she had noticed Charlie, seemed to have gathered the rest of the Weasleys and extended family. Everyone seemed to swarm around him in a chorus of "Charlie! Charlie!" 

"Wait a second!" Charlie shouted. "I have presents for everyone." He was quickly drowned out by shouts and hollers. As a unit, all the Weasleys minus Molly, Harry, and Hermione shuffled toward Charlie's new room. Tonks watched in awe as gales of laughter erupted from behind the closed door. 

Molly glanced at Tonks with narrowed eyes. "So what do you think of my second son?" Tonks sputtered, "He's … nice." Molly just smiled smugly as she headed toward the kitchen. "Do you need any help in there?" Tonks asked enthusiastically. 

"No!" Molly said worriedly and quickly tried to cover her snappy reply, "No dearie, I'm almost done." She gave Tonks a beaming smile, patted her hand, and then disappeared into the kitchen. 

Tonks scowled and headed for her temporary room. She was still upset when Molly called everyone down for dinner. So what if she was a bit clumsy? She was even more aggravated when she realized she was contemplating whether to change herself into a stunning veela instead of pale, pink-haired Nymphadora. It's not like she wanted to impress anyone … right? 

She marched down the hall to get to the dining hall, when her robes got caught on the troll leg umbrella stand. "Blasted troll leg," she mutter as she pulled. "Some should put it somewhere else!" She tugged so hard that both she and the umbrella stand went flying. 

Charlie did not know what to do when he exited his room. After all the excitement of his siblings as well as Harry and Hermione in his room, he was a bit tired, but not tired enough to skip dinner. He looked left only to see Tonks struggling with yet another piece of furniture. She pulled her robe violently and the whole troll leg lurched precariously. 

Tonks had just enough time to see the troll leg start to fall when she jumped out of the way. She looked up only to crash into a smiling Charlie Weasley. "Close call," she mumbled nervously. She disentangled herself from him and started down the hall, leaving Charlie to fix the troll leg. She was especially klutzy today. She absently wondered why. 

"Molly!" Tonks yelled while turning the corner, "I'll set the table!" By the time she reached the table, all the placemats and settings were already haphazardly placed, almost as if someone had decided to do so in a great hurry. A breathless Molly said, "Already done, dear." 

"Oh," Tonks said. She scowled when she heard a masculine chuckle behind her. She plunked herself down on a stool. 

Ginny and Hermione quickly took seats next to her. "Could you do the piggy one?" Ginny asked earnestly. "Or maybe the pointy one with the enlarged nostril?" Hermione chimed. Tonks tried to suppress her giggles as she scrunched up her face in concentration and soon the whole table was laughing boisterously at her various noses. She stopped only when she heard the crash of dinnerware. Charlie had dropped his fork and knife onto his plate and was gaping openly at her. Tonks only stuck out her chin and looked down on him from her hideously disfigured nose. She silently dared him to say something negative. 

"Your- you're a Metamorphmagus!" Charlie finally declared, quite stupidly. He stared in newfound awe. 

"I know I am," Tonks retorted. She narrowed her eyes threateningly. "And so?" 

"That's just – I mean – it's rare …" he just trailed off as Molly shot him a particularly icy look. Ron and Ginny, and especially Bill were watching him with raised eyebrows. The twins snickered between themselves, egged on by Sirius barely suppressed laughter. Hermione smartly kept to herself while Harry looked from face to face in confusion. 

Remus then calmly asked Charlie how the dragons were doing. Charlie then launched into a whole lecture on Romania, dragons, and Norbert. "And the burns are almost all healed," he finished. 

Tonks stared at him with new respect. "Your livelihood is playing with dragons?"

"They're great," he said, indirectly answering her question. "And they're almost ready." He smiled with pride. He seemed to be more proud of the dragons than himself, though. 

Mr. Weasley quickly stood up. "Everyone except the Order, upstairs now." 

 Charlie watched suspiciously when they all did so with less groaning and complaining than usual. "Oh and those Extendable Ears won't work," Arthur called out. 

A chorus of exasperated cries was heard from upstairs. 

Charlie wasn't even paying attention. Tonks had forgotten to change her presently gigantic nose back to normal. He thought she looked adorable. When she caught him staring, he silently pointed at her face and grinned when she smacked her hands over her face and switched noses. 

Tonks tried to pay attention to Arthur and ignore the fact that her face was flaming red. She seemed to do that a lot lately. 


End file.
